Welcome to the online diary of a Central Oregon Grandmother (me) who is busy celebrating the positive portions of her everyday life ... along with her best friend husband (Cary). It is quite an eclectic diary and I try to do my best to incorporate a little bit of history into many of my posts. Your visit to our piece of American Pie is greatly appreciated. This chatty Kathy posts frequently, so coming back to visit often is highly encouraged.

Showing you Oregon,one post at a time. Did you know that I post the links of many of my stories and articles on the sidebar? When you have extra time, please scroll down to see more. At the bottom of this page there are links to many other blogs that I enjoy.

Hello, friends, thank you so much for stopping by. I really hope that you will enjoy your visit to Oregon Gifts. Due to spam, I am not accepting comments from anonymous people. Please email me at: oregongiftsofcomfortandjoy@hotmail.com if you are unable to leave a comment on here. I write back through email when I can.

My words and photographs are copyrighted, and may not be used without permission, even on Pinterest.

~ Kathy M.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Bob Ross Revisted

In October, I did a post on NASCAR driver Bob Ross, and my husband Cary's grandfather, Jimmy Ellis. We just obtained the two black and white photo's below, so I decided to redo this post and share it again with our newer readers.

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

When Cary spotted these trophies among Grandpa Jimmy's things, they brought back fond memories of when he was a little boy watching the jalopy races in Huntington Beach, California. Cary's grandfather, Jimmy Ellis, owned some of the cars that were raced. In fact, sometimes Jimmy got out there and drove them himself, which made everybody skedaddle for cover. Since Jimmy owned the cars, he received the trophies when his driver won a race.

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Jimmy Ellis and Bob Ross

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

Some serious jalopy action is going down here, if you ask me.

One of Jimmy's jalopy drivers was Bob Ross. Bob ended up becoming a famous NASCAR driver, and was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2003. Not only was Bob to become a famous driver, he also married into the family. Bob married Grandma Pearl's niece, Lorraine. Cary's mom, Darlene, thought that Bob and Lorraine were the most gorgeous couple she had ever seen. I think Bob is looking pretty handsome standing next to Grandpa Jimmy, don't you?

Anyway, we just thought this was all pretty interesting, and I hope that you enjoy it.

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I got all of the information below from Stockcar Reunion.com . I copied and pasted it, so that you would not have to wade through everybody else who was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2003, but go and take a look if you enjoy this kind of stuff. Thank you, Stockcar Reunion.com!

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews

BOB ROSS

Bob had a varied racing background, competingBOB ROSS"Bob had a varied racing background, competing in jalopies in the early ‘50s and eventually stock cars. In addition, he also loved doing some drag racing-which his wife Lorraine says led to many speeding tickets.

After initially being sponsored by Itches Service Stations, Bob was later given a Mercury by Mr. Urich. Bob took the car to Bill Stroppe’s shop in Long Beach to be set up for racing. Bill Stroppe, well known as one of the best race car builders on the west coast, dubbed Bob “Country Boy”. Much of Bob’s later success came behind the wheel of a Mercury built and maintained by Cos Cancilla.

Bob finished sixth in on the Pacific Coast Late Model circuit in 1956 and was fifth a year later. The ‘59 season was his year, as he won the championship over the likes of Lloyd Dane, Scotty Cain, Marvin Porter, Parnelli Jones and Eddie Gray.

One of his biggest thrills, meanwhile, was at Hanford Speedway, where he made quite an impression on Fireball Roberts by beating him for fast time. Fireball remarked to Bob’s wife, “I think that boy is knocking on my front door.”

In addition to his four career wins in the west coast series, Bob led many races and had podium finishes on numerous occasions. those included a terrific runner-up finish to Parnelli Jones at the Sacramento Fairgrounds in 1958 and finishing second to Eddie Gray at the same track in 1961.

As so many racers did in that era, Bob worked on his own car as well as holding down a full-time job - driving a truck. In fact, he worked for Automobile Transport, transporting new cars to dealerships for 31 years.

Known for keeping everything clean and spotless, Bob was considered far ahead of his time in car preparation.

Bob married his wife Lorraine in 1941 and the couple had three children - Bob Jr., Jim and Linda.

Lorraine accepted his Hall Of Fame Honor on behalf of her late husband."

I love this post. I'm so glad I found it. Bob Ross drove for my uncles back in the day. I actually have a copy of the picture of him in the car - it might actually be their car but I'm not sure. I've been trying to find any information on their racing days but I'm in VA and finding info from back then isn't easy. Thanks again!

Contact Info:

There are a lot of photos and other graphics on here, so it may take a while to load if you have a slower internet connection. I really appreciate the fact that some of you wait patiently to see what I have posted. Thank you to all my readers! Please leave a comment or send me an email at: oregongiftsofcomfortandjoy@hotmail.com

About Me:

Welcome to "Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy" My name is Kathy Matthews and I live in Central Oregon with my best friend husband, Cary. I am a fifth generation Oregonian who loves to take pictures, write, create, and go places with Cary. My main blog, Oregon Gifts, is an online journal, where I try my best to celebrate the positive portions of everyday life. My other blogs are off-shoots into my particular interest areas. Please enjoy your visit, and leave a comment if you feel led. If you would like to email me, here is my email address: oregongiftsofcomfortandjoy@
hotmail.com
Thank you!

"Celebrating the Positive Portions of Everyday Life."

Most of the photos on these websites were taken by me. Others are from my friends and family's FB pages. Enjoy them, but please do not claim them as your own or use/copy them. Thanks! All rights reserved on the contents of this website. Created by Kathy Matthews of Central Oregon, November 2008.